Amol Rajan: Whoever wins Iran’s election, the people will lose

 
Favourite: a supporter of Saeed Jalili hands out leaflets in Tehran. Jalili agrees with Ahmadinejad that "there are no gay people in Iran and the Holocaust didn’t happen"
Getty
10 June 2013
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

In many parts of the emerging world, vast and fast-growing populations face a choice between order and economic growth on the one hand, and rights and social justice on the other. Last week’s riots in Turkey, for instance, showed demand for the latter asserting itself over the former. The country’s economy has grown at an average of five per cent since Prime Minister Erdogan came to power in 2002, but his creeping autocracy has exhausted the patience of a young, increasingly secular people.

In India there will be a choice next year between Narendra Modi, the competent but Islamophobic chief minister of Gujarat who announced his candidacy yesterday, and Rahul Gandhi, the affable but mediocre scion of a dynasty stretching back to Nehru. And in China, though the people have no choice, their demands for rights have been placated by communists who boast that the country will soon be richer than America, albeit while feeding many more mouths.

Of the many injustices visited on the people of Iran, whose farcical and rigged presidential “election” begins this Friday, the fact that they have been denied even this choice is particularly cruel. Under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, they have become much poorer. Oil receipts have fallen sharply, partly because of international sanctions. Unemployment is reportedly over 20 per cent, and inflation an unbearable 45 per cent.

But the prospects for democracy or freedom for a young population — median age 27.8 — are even worse. The eight candidates have been hand-picked by the Guardian Council of Ali Khamenei, a coward, hypocrite and chump who, not satisfied with one Supreme Leader in the sky, takes that title in the country. Hundreds of other candidates who met his displeasure were purged. Half the Guardian Council are his appointees. A former candidate, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was barred from running on account of being too moderate.

Hundreds of writers and dissidents have been jailed, websites shut down, satellite dishes banned, and more than 150 publications shut. According to most reports the strong favourite, Saeed Jalili, agrees with Ahmadinejad’s fascistic view that there are no gay people in Iran and the Holocaust didn’t happen. Last week he said: “The main role in life for a woman is to be a mother”.

The history of Iran since the revolution of 1979 is a history of dashed hopes, as conservative hardliners crush reform-minded pluralists. Western and Israeli policy toward the country is obsessed with stopping Iran getting a nuclear bomb. It could more profitably focus on using every means available to strengthen civic society and the hand of the young.

But none of that will happen while we labour under the delusion that this Friday’s charade contains an inkling of democracy; and the least we owe Iranians is honesty in calling it by its true name.

Theocracy is a form of government based on sophistry, sleaze and superstition rather than justice, rights and citizenship. From an anarchist’s point of view, the trouble with democracy is that whoever you vote for, the government always wins. From a democrat’s point of view, the trouble with theocracy is that whoever you vote for, God always wins. In Iran, God will win again, and the people will lose as a result.

Twitter: @amolrajan

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in